Scars Remind Us
by Scarlett Rogue
Summary: Blaine always knew he'd have to face his past eventually. What happens when Karofsky pulls his pants down in front of the Glee club?


**Summary: Blaine always knew he'd have to face his past eventually. What happens when Karofsky pulls his pants down in front of the Glee club?**

**Rated: T for language/mature-ish themes**

**Disclaimer: I got a lot of good feedback about my fic, "The Crying Game" so I figured you guys might be interested in this as well. Hope you enjoy!**

Karofsky had it out for Blaine. If the rumors and hollow threats weren't evident enough, then the fact that he was standing outside the choir room waiting for the other boy made it perfectly obvious. He had revenge in his mind ever since Blaine had pushed him in the hallway before New Directions' show. He knew Blaine would be here any second to pick Kurt up and head over to Breadstix, and he could have done this there. But people there barely knew Blaine, so the embarrassment wouldn't be as bad. Here, it would be bad. He would make sure of that.

Blaine was wandering through the halls of McKinley, trying to get a feel for the school. He knew that this would one day be his home, New Directions would be his family, and the football team would be his bullies. But that was next year; he didn't have to worry about it yet. He was about to enter the choir room when he saw the hulking football player, Karofsky, leaning against the door frame.

"'Sup, ladyman?"

"What the hell do you want?" He tried to walk passed him but Karofsky blocked his way. He folded his arms over his chest, not in the mood for childish games.

"What right do you think you have to come into _my school_ and flaunt your fagginess?"

"Is that even a word?" Blaine watched with silent triumph as Karofsky's cheeks lit up with red.

"You need to leave, before everyone else catches your gay!"

"You know," Blaine lowered his voice. "If 'gay' were something people could "catch", I'm pretty sure they would have gotten it from you by now."

"You'd better watch your mouth, fa-"

"What is going on out here?" The door swung open and Kurt stood in the doorway, pushing passed Karofsky to see if his boyfriend was okay.

"Nothing, fairy, why don't you-"

"Why don't you shut the hell up and get out of here!" Blaine shoved his way passed the huge boy and made his way into the choir room. He thought he had won. He had no idea that this was part of Karofsky's plan.

Blaine had only taken three steps into the room when the jock spun around, grabbed a hold of Blaine's pants, and yanked them down before Blaine could even register what was happening. The Glee club gasped, some of them looking away, others too shocked to avert their eyes. Kurt looked away as fast as he could but slipped off his jacket and held it in front of Blaine.

"Show's over, people!" He yelled. Finn and Puck were snapped out of it by the sound of Karofsky's laughter. They leaped forward, ready to attack, but Blaine stuck his hand out and all motion stopped. Even Karofsky stopped laughing.

There was something about Blaine's calm manner that left a thick layer of tension in the air. Finn and Puck stopped back and eyed the dapper boy warily as he slowly pulled his pants up. Done with the last button on his jeans, he stared blankly at the floor for a few seconds. Then, out of nowhere, his body arched around and his fist collided with a sickening crunching noise against Karofsky's face. The boy yelped and staggered back into the wall, holding his bleeding nose.

A fire that Kurt had never seen before lit itself in Blaine's dark eyes and he lunged for Karofsky. Kurt wrapped his arms around his boyfriend while the other guys pushed Karofsky back.

"What the-" Mr. Schuester stood in the doorway, jaw dropped as he stared at Blaine's red face and Karofsky's red nose. The tension in the room broke, as did Karofsky from the stranglehold of Finn's arms. He shook himself off and left the choir room without looking back.

Blaine slowly pulled himself out of Kurt's tight hold and sat on the table that was against the wall. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up into Mr. Schue's concerned eyes.

"Are you okay, Blaine?" Blaine nodded numbly and stared down at his knuckle, which was bleeding.

"Let me clean that up." Kurt dug out the first-aid kit and began smearing neosporin on his knuckle. Nobody said anything for a few minutes; nobody knew how to approach the subject.

"Someone did that to me before..." Blaine decided to bring it up himself.

"Did what?"

"Pulled my pants down in front of people. Back in eighth grade." Blaine hoisted his knees up to his chest and tried to get lost in the feeling of Kurt wrapping his hand up rather than the reminders of his past.

"Blaine, I know this is making you upset, and I hate to be that guy that ruins the sensitive moment, but have you _seen _your dong lately? It's not exactly something normal people would be ashamed of," Puck admitted. A few people laughed and Kurt rolled his eyes at how tactless his friend was.

"Well, that's now," Blaine muttered into his hands. "In eighth grade...it was a different story. And everyone hated me, so you could imagine I got made fun of a lot. It meant new nicknames and more shoves in lockers and a few pictures taped to random walls all over the buildings and crayon drawings on the inside of toilet stalls. And lots of crying."

A lot of the members of New Directions looked away now because none of them knew this side of Blaine. They knew the handsome young man who always seemed to be bursting with confidence and happiness. They knew nothing about his past, and most of them didn't want to know. Except Santana.

"Blaine, listen...I've seen a lot of penises in my days. So many, in fact, that I barely notice them at all. So while everyone was busy admiring your astonishing size, I was busy studying your leg."

Nobody knew what she meant about his leg. She was right; they were all too busy either looking at Blaine or looking away to notice anything else. Blaine knew what she was talking about, though, because he looked away and seemed determined to stare at a wall.

"Babe, what is she talking about?" Kurt asked, his voice soft and loving. Blaine sighed and stood up from the table. Careful not to give the choir another free show, he pulled his pants down a little and pulled the left side of his briefs up to reveal his thigh. He closed his eyes and felt the almost tangible sting of the collective gasp that came from Kurt's friends. He tried to block out the inquisitive noises and only focus on Kurt, because that was all he cared about right now. Kurt's reaction. When he opened his eyes he saw Kurt's filled with tears and he reached his hand out to trace it over Blaine's thigh.

Blaine shuddered when he felt Kurt's delicate fingers running over each long, slightly red scar. They didn't hurt anymore, of course, but the skin there was much more sensitive than other parts of his body.

"When...did this happen?" His voice was barely a whisper. Blaine swallowed hard and pulled his pants back up.

"Shortly after I found a picture of myself naked in the boys bathroom. They were everywhere and I didn't know what to do. And everyone was calling me names, and it just...just hurt too much." Blaine sat back down on the table and ignored the tears that were rolling down his hot cheeks. "I had no one to turn to, nobody who I could trust. I just wanted to stop hurting so much. I-someone told me that it made the pain weaker."

"By hurting yourself?" Kurt was surprised when Blaine flashed him a bright smile, but he saw the aching behind it.

"I have a low pain threshold, both physically and emotionally. I figured that this would hurt enough to distract me from the emotional pain."

He had never been proud of the scars he left on his body, the weakness that he showed. He had never been proud of running away. But he had no choice. At the time, he had no courage, he was just a child.

He had just been a child, overloaded with pain and stress, who decided to carve that pain on his unblaming leg. His mind hurt from the reminder of that day, when he ran home from school and locked himself in his room with a pair of scissors and cried until he choked on his own tears, until his mother was beating on the door and finally his father kicked it in. They found him balled up the corner of his room, blood on his leg and on the carpet surrounding him. He never wanted to remember the constriction of his chest when he heard his mother scream and sob, he never wanted to remember the blame he placed on his parents for making him like this, for making him a target for other kids to torture endlessly.

But they got him out of there. And he always knew he'd have to face his demons one day.

"Blaine? Blaine, come here." Kurt pulled Blaine into a tight hug and he sobbed on Kurt's shoulder, no longer caring that everyone was seeing a side he had never intended for anyone to see. He felt a smooth hand slip into his and opened his eyes to see Santana with a tiny smile on her face. She nodded her head and squeezed his hand gently, letting him know that she would be there for him.

"Blaine...Remember what we talked about earlier?" Blaine nodded as Kurt pulled away and placed his hands on Blaine's shoulders.

"If you come to McKinley, you'll be reminded every day what school was like, what people were like, before you transferred to Dalton."

Blaine shook his head. He knew Kurt was worried about him. He knew Kurt was trying to talk him out of transferring. But he knew that he was finally strong enough to face not only the bullies but his own mistakes. He smiled at his boyfriend and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.

"I can't run forever." Kurt smiled back at him. He turned around to face New Directions, who all nodded in unspoken agreement, then faced Blaine again.

"Then welcome to the family. We'll always be here for you."

**Eh. It sounded better in my head. These things just don't translate well when I go to type them up. Oh well, I hope you like it. PLEASE REVIEW! I know it's somewhat time consuming and you'd rather either click favorite or backspace depending on if you liked it or not, but I would really love the feedback.** **Thanks so much for reading!**


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